Whether you plan on “borrowing ideas” or want to create your own landscaping design, having a basic understanding of the principles of landscape design can save you a lot of time down the road.
This doesn’t mean that you have to apply every principle we talk about here into your plan. Yet having an understanding of these principles will hopefully help with idea generation and maybe even increase your creativity!
Great landscaping is a very individual thing.
Today we’ll give you two key principles of landscape design that you can follow, but we don’t want you to think that they are “cast in stone” or “have to rules” of landscaping. What it’s really all about is creating something that you will love and that will create something that makes you happy.
- Unity. It’s a core principle in landscape design. You can also think of it as repetition and consistency. Repetition creates unity by repeating like or similar elements – like plants, plant groups, or decor throughout the landscape. Consistency creates unity in the sense that the different elements of the landscape fit together to create an overall design and feel in line with your master plan. You can achieve Unity with the elements of design; height, size, color schemes, textures, etc.
- Simplicity is another principle that’s very popular today, both in philosophy and in scope. It’s one of the best guidelines you can follow as a beginner or DIY landscaper. Keep things simple. You can always do more later. An example of simplicity in planting is to pick 2 or 3 colors and repeat them throughout your design.
Keeping your decor to a minimum and staying with a specific theme will help keep you overall design simple.
Keeping hardscapes, such as boulders or rock walls consistent, is also a key method of implementing simplicity in your landscape design.
In our next post, we’ll talk about two additional principles of landscape design, and how to bring it all together to create the look and feel of a yard you’ll enjoy for years to come.
If this seems overwhelming, or your just not confident you can pull it together, give us a call for a free estimate. Our experience and love for landscaping translates through to the work we do for our clients.
Penny and Julie
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